


Merciful

by horny on main (softgrungeprophet)



Category: Spider-Man (Comicverse), Venom: Space Knight
Genre: Alien Planet, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Caves, Edgeplay, Explicit Consent, Face-Fucking, First Time Blow Jobs, M/M, Threats of Violence, Unsafe Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 10:04:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19354774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softgrungeprophet/pseuds/horny%20on%20main
Summary: Flash is tracking Kraven the Hunter in an alien cave system...Kraven finds him first.





	1. Fic

**Author's Note:**

> This.... got out of hand.  
> If you're wondering "Why Kraven and Flash???" the answer is cause of that vaguely horny part of Agent Venom in the Savage Lands where Kraven is all, "embrace me" cause he thinks Agent Venom is Spider-Man and also he was only wearing a loincloth?  
> ah comics  
> anyway  
> i saw that and went "hey what if"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The actual fic.

Flash hauled himself up over a ledge, onto an outcropping.

Over his comms, unclear and crackling, Iqa—" _Your friend wants an update._ "

There was an open gash in the cave wall. Just narrow enough that he couldn't quite fit, wearing his full spacesuit—even light as it was. Unfortunately, real life wasn't like videogames, and skin-tight _armor_ hadn't quite found a solid footing yet, even if mechanical lines of non-extension had.

Helmet; pressurized, mixed, sealed onto the biosuit underneath an armored oversuit. Like wearing a wetsuit under reflective riot gear.

"Uhh..."

Too bulky.

" _Shit_. Well, I think I'm on his tracks but I might go radio silent for a few minutes."

He was probably going to get space cancer someday, anyway.

" _I don't think it likes that answer_."

Flash shrugged out of his utility harness and set it down on the smooth, glassy ground. Slid it part of the way into the crack in the craggy wall. At least get it out of the way—he double-checked the readings on his HUD, one more time.

"Tell him not to worry so much. I'm a big boy."

50 degrees Fahrenheit--cold but nothing worse than a breezy early spring day.

Dominant gases: oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, methane, with local concentrations of sulfur.

Breathable for a few hours, according to the sensors. Atmospheric pressure within the survivable amount.

" _It concedes, begrudgingly._ "

Flash quickly stripped out of his protective suit, one eye out on the cavern he had come from, in case he had misinterpreted Kraven's subtle tracks. Maybe Kraven was savoring the hunt, giving Flash some kind of headway to make things more interesting for himself, or some kind of run-around. Tricky.

"I'm taking off my helmet."

" _Be careful._ "

Flash grinned. "I always am."

He opened the seals.

A wave of nausea briefly liquefied his insides as he removed his helmet, engulfed by the smell of rotten eggs. His ears popped painfully, a few times.

Bearable.

After a moment of recovery, Flash pushed his outer suit in after his gear, and slowly exhaled as he squeezed through the foot-deep crack of black rock, praying its glass-like, sheared-off surface wouldn't snag on his counterpressure suit.

There was something beautiful about this place, though.

Somewhere between natural and artificial, with hewn walls and glossy, level floors. Like the alien work of a sculptor with obsidian at hand. Not all black, either, but with streaks of dewy gray and amber-brown and red, translucent in places. Skylights let in beams of sunlight from the surface above, and that caught on the edges of the illuminated areas, fading into a dimness elsewhere. One such spot being this small chamber Flash found himself in, lit by a spotlight of sun from high above that gleamed brightly and then dissolved away, leaving Flash at the bottom, strangely golden in the half-darkness.

He retrieved his equipment, into this little glass-stone hall.

It felt safe here, at least temporarily.

Almost thrumming with some unfamiliar energy.

Flash strapped his harness on over his skintight biosuit and checked the sensors on the wrist of his suit. Biometrics, vital signs, and a small readout keeping track of the high-range ultrasonics of this world. So high Flash couldn't sense them, even _without_ his nearly soundproof helmet—but obviously dangerous for the symbiote to accompany him to the surface. Better to keep the crew orbiting in case of emergency and risk only one person.

He ran his hand over the smooth, slightly gold readout panel.

Distantly, a voice.

Kravinoff.

It reflected strangely through the cave system, bouncing this way and that in such a way that suddenly, it sounded as if the man were right next to him—

"I can feel you..."

Flash shivered, goosebumps crawling up his neck.

Unsettling, to hear that low voice purring right up against his ear despite Kraven most likely being in a different chamber entirely.

A _different_ -different chamber.

Way out there.

Behind? Ahead?

Flash looked around, in this pocket of safety. The split-open crack they had come through, and then the jagged walls almost spiraling upward, widening toward the skylight hundreds of feet up in the air.

He'd have to go deeper, down the narrow hall that went on from this place. Dark and forbidding, but promising.

Again, Kraven's voice—

"I can smell you..."

Okay, _that_ wasn't creepy at all. No way.

Flash looked forlornly behind him, then at the tunnel ahead. It was wider than the crack he'd come through, certainly just enough to accommodate his helmet and body armor if he put those back on... Yet at the same time, despite the smell of sulfur and the slight humidity, Flash enjoyed being able to feel the air on his face. To see the play of shadows and light without the HUD and slight tint of his visor.

Stupid as that may have been...

Well, he ought to conserve the mix in his breathing tanks anyway. No need to run through all his stored oxygen when there was plenty here to breathe. What if he needed it later? Better to use his portable respirator instead. He retrieved it from its pouch on his belt, and strapped the half-mask to his face. Once secure, he bent down to bundle his outer suit around his helmet, fashioning a makeshift package of sorts which he simply clipped to his belt with a carabiner. A little awkward, to be sure, but it left his gloved hands free—one to brace himself against the chipped stone of the tunnel wall as he moved into the darkness... the other to wield his flashlight.

He couldn't hear Kraven anymore. No taunting, no movement. Nothing else, either.

Maybe it was this tunnel in particular, or maybe it was just quiet. Only the sound of his breathing, his footsteps, the rustle of his gear. A slight ringing in his ears. In, out... Deeper into the darkness, into the constricting hall.

The passage grew narrower, and he squeezed through, wondering if he might be more lethal to himself than Kraven ever could be—if he might wedge himself, deep in a cave system on a planet full of conflicting ultrasonic and radio waves, somewhere no one would ever find him even with the ship orbiting the planet.

Comms barely worked as-it-was with all that interference...

The tunnel widened, and he let out a noisy breath, aware suddenly of just how loud his heartbeat felt in his ears, how fast it was beating.

_Think less about dying underground, and more about how to get out._

The widening turned into an opening, and he stopped.

He stood on a ledge overlooking a subterranean lake, lit dimly by sunlight filtering down through a large opening far above. A grotto, a yawning cavern with a spit of land that reached far out into the center of the lake, thick with unusual-looking plant life. Above, too, that sinkhole of an opening was lined with plants. Almost like a waterfall of greenery, dripping down into the open air, though it stopped hundreds of feet out of Flash's reach.

Breathtaking.

The lake itself was a murky greenish color, with yellow and orange deposits on the shores, and Flash noticed that the cave walls in this area—while still streaked with shiny obsidian—seemed to be a more crumbly, rough material.

Flash couldn't imagine the kind of geologic activity that must have contributed to the formation of such an amazing system.

The question of how he would get either down or up remained, of course.

He could jump, or, more correctly, fall. The ledge itself wasn't really that high up, and there was a kind of slope of crumbled rock debris that led to the water's edge.

Had to start somewhere.

Flash lowered himself down to sit on the edge, prosthetic legs dangling over until he managed to slide himself down just enough to drop. He hit the ground and tumbled a bit, covering his face with his arms. Luckily the debris here was so soft and crumbly, the most damage it did was to leave smears of chalky yellow across the black of his suit. He sat up with a grunt, and straightened his harness.

Okay—

So far not dead.

His eyes stung a little but he could put up with that.

This terrain, though. What a nightmare. He'd need his cane for this. Collapsible and portable—he snapped it out to his preferred length and tested it on the soft, silty ground. Not fantastic, but it made him feel a little more confident.

With the aid of his cane, he made it to the shore without stumbling too bad, and stopped to catch his breath with his feet just inches from the murky water.

And he realized, gradually, how much sound there was here. The gentle splish of the lake, tiny waves from falling gravel or drips of water from above. The soft movement of air through the skylight and the plant life. Rustling leaves. Alive with echoes and audio.

With a mix of hesitation and curiosity filling him, Flash stepped toward the bridge of unstable land that led to the island-like projection out in the lake. Maybe he ought to have been looking for an exit, or Kraven's tracks, but he couldn't contain his desire to know what might be out there.

Even with the cane, he almost slipped into the lake quite a few times, skidding down and leaving streaked tracks of yellowish mud with every slide of his heel or the foot of his cane. He did fall on his ass once, cane slipping out from under him, one computerized knee buckling beneath him and the other leg kicking up a splash of bottle-green lake water that thankfully went away from him.

He took a moment to recover, just sitting there leaning back on his hands, taking in his vast surroundings.

His head hurt a little, threatening to expand into a full-blown ache, and his ears felt tight, and his eyes burned, and he was thirsty, but God. If he was going to be stuck here—if he was going to die, what a way to go out. Living his sacrificial sci-fi protagonist dreams.

When he finally reached the larger mass in the center of the lake, he was a little out of breath, but not too bad. There were trees of some sort here, or at least they were shaped like trees, in a manner. Branching and tall, with ropey trunks and spreading fronds that hung down almost like wisteria or maybe more like weeping willow, with scarlet leaves that darkened to black on their tips.

This island was about the size of a football field, from what Flash could tell. He couldn't be certain, obscured as it was by curtains of red leaves and strange white undergrowth. Fleshy non-photosynthetic plants, almost translucent... like flowering ghosts. Green plants too, of course, here and there. Vines winding around trunks, cushions of moss, bursts of leaves not unlike ferns.

Flash moved his way through the trees, brushing each he passed with a touch of his glove, careful not to wedge his cane in any twists of roots.

The trees grew taller toward the center, reaching upward toward the sunlight and presumably whatever rain or other nutrients they needed which came from above. Stretching up...

There were a few small clearings, here and there, most barely a few feet of cleared ground, with occasional worn-in paths between them. Trails left by alien life? Or erosion? One did seem to hold a trickling stream, dwindling away. Maybe fed by falling water from the surface, strongest during storms.

Flash turned, as he moved, careful not to back up wrong and buckle his knees—

In the blink of an eye, he found himself blocked by a spear where there had not been one before, quivering as it stuck from a tree trunk just inches from his face.

"Found you."

Flash whirled , dropping his cane and pulling his knife from his harness, but Kraven—the shadowed hunter, almost spectral in his sudden appearance—grabbed Flash's arm and tugged him close.

Flash tried to pull back with little in the way of luck, as Kraven's fingers held like locks on his wrists. He almost got free, twisting—but only almost. Kraven squeezed until Flash dropped his knife with a pained grunt.

"Why struggle so, my fast-footed rabbit?!" Kraven moved Flash almost like a dancer, before throwing him to the ground, in a space relatively clear of tree roots. "I thought you wanted to find me!"

He grasped his spear and pulled it free, seemingly effortless.

Flash rolled onto his back. Breathed hard, where he lay.

Kraven raised the tip of his spearhead, a deadly weapon which he pointed at Flash. Stepped closer, 'til the spearhead touched Flash's chest. Centered over his solar plexus. The only thing between its sharp tip and Flash's soft flesh the layers of spandex and elastic that made up his pressure suit.

"Do you show your belly in submission?"

"Do I?"

Kraven chuckled. Took a step forward, adjusting his grip on his spear so it stood straight up, perpendicular to Flash's chest. Flash lifted his hand, to curl his fingers around the shaft. Kraven adjusted his grip, as well. Two hands. Firm.

A sudden fakeout startled a gasp out of Flash, both hands coming together reflexively to grip the spear, but Kraven hadn't actually thrust, not enough to pierce. Just enough to frighten, to set Flash's heart racing a thousand miles an hour.

"I alone hold your life in my hands, in this moment..." Kraven tossed his spear aside, so it fell into the undergrowth. He dropped down—straddled Flash, settling his weight on Flash's stomach to pin him. "Isn't that thrilling?"

"Yeah, that's _one_ word for it." A little breathless, still, but gradually calming.

"The power of life and death..."

Kraven reached out, running his fingers lightly over Flash's throat, to feel his pulse against his fingertips.

"There is no greater pleasure..."

 _Clearly_.

With an almost serene sigh, barely audible, Kraven shifted back.

"It seems I am not the only one to appreciate _thrill_."

He didn't have to _point it out_.

"It—" Flash stared up at the hole in the cave ceiling so far above, at its drifting beams of sunlight. "It's friction. From my harness."

" _Friction_." Kraven hummed a deep, quiet laugh, subtly adjusting the way he sat on Flash, planting his fists on his thighs. "You fool neither of us."

It was simple adrenaline. The clarity of his blood pumping and his heart beating and his skin prickling with goosebumps under the tight fabric of his suit. Subtle shifts of air and motion, Kraven's solid weight on his hips, and the sculpted curves of his muscles. The heat of their bodies between them.

"I can hear your thoughts racing, little bird."

Flash raised his head slightly, to look at Kraven. At the skins and leather clinging to his body. Flagrant displays of his life's dedication, his durability, his confidence. The balletic interpretation of a strange hunter.

The hunter himself... broad-shouldered, strong-featured, well-muscled...

Flash let his head fall back against the moss and flowers.

"Fuck."

Another low chuckle from Kraven.

Flash pushed himself up on his elbows with a huff. "Listen." He watched Kraven closely. "Are you gonna kill me, or what?"

A flicker of amusement played across Kraven's face, with something darker and deeper, a little predatory. "Would you like me to do so?"

"No." Point blank. Of course not. Just because Flash had myriad self-esteem issues and a reckless, self-sacrificial streak a mile wide didn't mean he wanted to be gutted like a fish.

Kraven looked down on him with a breath, intense in his gaze. Intent, too, as if marking down every detail not just of Flash but of his surroundings. The hunter's brain, calculating the value of each owed pound of flesh and trophy reward. Truly objectifying in an unsettling way.

He placed his hand on Flash's stomach and murmured, "Rumor has it, cuts from the breast..." He ran his hand up Flash's torso, coming to a stop just over his heart, pushing him back down. "...make a fine roast." He withdrew his hand, to undo the hidden clasp on his spiked belt, letting it slip aside to the ground. "The meat of the thighs is in high demand, in certain circles. The backside as well."

Was Kraven a _cannibal_?

"I, of course, partake in no such thing." Kraven ran his hands down his own thighs, slowly, almost distracted. "Though in sparing you, now, I pass up the opportunity to make a small fortune, despite your... inadequacies."

No, not a cannibal, but definitely _rude_.

But also, not going to kill Flash.

Which was a big plus in his book

"Well I can't say I'm not relieved."

Rather than respond, Kraven watched Flash, hands on his knees, for a long moment. Flash tried to hold eye contact with him for as long as possible but his neck pinched from the awkward position, so he let himself relax and stared up at the cave ceiling again.

The quality of light had changed slightly, slipping beams slightly more golden through the cave's skylight opening and its tangles of cascading forest. A small section of sky was visible through the canopy, deep blue, darkening slightly to purple.

A few long, plaintive calls echoed down into the cavern, bouncing back and forth into a quiet, thin wail. From outside, above, perhaps. In the forest along the mountainside.

But even down here, inside, small sounds murmured from the shadows. Little chirps and plinks, ripples of water.

Kraven barely moved, beyond breathing.

Flash didn't quite know what to do with his hands.

Finally, Kraven spoke. "Are you willing?"

Flash frowned and lifted his head. "What?"

"I am a man of honor." Kraven still sat, like a statue, with his hands on his knees. He'd barely moved a muscle since he took his belt off, and his eyes gleamed in the dimming light. "I may kill, but I am neither a brute nor a degenerate—are you willing?"

Flash raised his eyebrows.

 ...... _was_ he?

Kraven wasn't unattractive, and he had calmed significantly since proving he could kill Flash so easily, and sometime in the past few minutes Flash had graduated from fear-boner to genuine arousal.

The whole situation had Flash red-faced and increasingly uncertain, but curious.

"I..." Flash stretched his arms out over his head with a deep breath, and relaxed. "I might be."

Slowly, Kraven reached out to touch the respirator covering Flash's nose and mouth. He waited, and when Flash didn't protest, he pulled it off of Flash's face.

It didn't actually smell too bad, on the island. Maybe because they were in a tiny clearing in the middle of a fairly thick forest. Maybe the trees or the undergrowth absorbed the sulfur smells and put out something else, or maybe they just blocked it like an air filter, or... something.

Kraven stroked his calloused thumb across Flash's lower lip.

"You know," Flash shifted slightly, to be more comfortable. "This isn't how I thought things would go."

Kraven caught Flash's chin in his hand, turning his head just-so. "No?"

He brushed his fingers down from Flash's jaw to his throat, a light hot touch when Flash swallowed reflexively. His fingers briefly caught in the collar of Flash's suit, but then he pulled away. Sat beside Flash in the soft white flowers, easy to watch as he unlaced his leather shoes and slipped them off. They went with his belt, set neatly side by side, and he rose to his knees, hooking his thumbs in the waist of his leopard-velvet leggings.

Oh.

Flash bit his lip, head turned to the side so his cheek brushed against the moss as he watched Kraven move.

His suit felt a little too tight for comfort, suddenly. Not that it hadn't before, more that he became more aware of how restrictive it was, across every inch of his skin. But he also wasn't about to get naked in a cave jungle on an alien planet. What if there were weird spores, or something? Moss spores. Or poisonous bugs.

Kraven reached out and ran his fingers through Flash's short, buzzed hair. Voice low, purring. "You desire..."

He didn't seem to expect a response, as he shifted closer.

A strange position, with Flash on his back and his head turned to the side, Kraven straddling Flash's upper arm and pulling him closer, palm flat against the back of his skull. Flash grabbed onto Kraven's thigh, using his free hand to push himself up onto his side, his elbow—

"I don't know what to do with this."

Kraven growled.

Impatient? Regretting his decision to let Flash live?

Flash glanced up at Kraven, then back to the sight in front of him.

Okay.

It wasn't like Flash had never seen a dick before.

He knew how dicks worked.

He'd just never put one in his mouth before... not that he hadn't fantasized, quietly, in the privacy of his own bedroom.

Flash knew he was blushing across his entire face, clear to his ears—a thousand degrees in the cool cave air, as he tentatively parted his lips for Kraven. Immediately, Kraven's grip tightened, as he let out a soft breath. He jostled Flash slightly; pushed just a bit, startling a small noise from Flash's throat.

The angle wasn't great...

"Come." Less of a command, more of an accompanying phrase for Kraven to tug Flash upright by. He grabbed Flash under the armpits and before Flash could even fully register what was happening, had hauled him bodily over to a tree, so his back pressed against the twisted trunk.

"Oh—"

Kraven braced himself against the tree trunk with one arm and grabbed Flash's skull again with his other hand, as he pushed into Flash's mouth once more. Flash exhaled sharply through his nose, a little gasp at the way Kraven's fingers dug into his scalp, and the way he slid across Flash's tongue. Everything hot—Flash's face and covered skin, Kraven's body... Flash put his own smaller hand over Kraven's, encouraging more, desiring more, though he didn't know exactly what to _do_ with more.

Still, he wanted it, and Kraven provided with a surprisingly gentle, shallow thrust. A quiet, groaning sigh. Flash's eyelids drifted shut and he dug the fingers of his free hand into the thick moss at the base of the tree at his back. He couldn't keep a few more small, pleased noises from escaping him with each half-thrust.

"Hmm..." Kraven ran his thumb roughly across Flash's temple. "You enjoy this."

Much more than expected, yes. Or maybe exactly as much as he imagined.

Not that Flash could answer anyway, other than a slight, soft moan. Eyebrows drawn together, eyes softly shut, face hot, fingers tight in the undergrowth and on the back of Kraven's hand.

Kraven, too, moaned, and pushed deeper. Flash's hand moved from the moss to press the heel of his palm against the crotch of his suit, desperate for some touch through the tight elastic layers.

Overwhelming, a little.

Different from his dreams and fantasies, which all held that specific kind of haze that made things unreal; prolonged yet instant, perfectly tousled, and satisfyingly coordinated.

Turned out, real life involved a lot more drool.

Also some gagging, which didn't feel _great_.

But Kraven backed off with a murmur, the words unfamiliar but the tone clearly scolding as he pulled out of Flash's mouth with a sigh. He smoothed his calloused palm across Flash's buzzed head, with Flash still loosely grasping his wrist—Flash let out a little noise, both relieved and disappointed. Kraven shifted, the head of his dick brushing against Flash's lips, and moved his other hand from the tree trunk to give himself a few vigorous strokes. Still saying something, low and half-growled in Russian—

He gasped as he came on Flash's face, tightening his fingers against Flash's scalp. Flash startled slightly at the sensation, taken aback though he should have expected it. He poked his tongue out to lick his lips.

" _Ptichka_..." Kraven slowed his movements, sated and calm. He took Flash's face in both his hands. "You are much softer than I expected."

What could he say? He'd been through a lot since the last time they tried to kill each other. Anyway, Kraven had never seen Flash in the bedroom—or, in this case, the forest—and couldn't have known about his submissive streak. So of course he expected mouthy and over-confident, not pliant and needy.

"Yeah, well..." Flash shifted uncomfortably, slightly achey from arousal and the tightness of his skinsuit. "Well... whatever."

He liked indirect stimulation but through the suit he really couldn't feel much of anything at all.

Kraven dragged his thumb across Flash's lip with a hum. Swiped some of the drying spit and semen from Flash's face, to wipe it on the moss at his knees.

"Take off your clothes."

Flash frowned slightly. "What?"

Even beside the hassle of taking off and removing a counterpressure suit, he'd also have to take off his legs, leaving himself vulnerable...

Admittedly, Kraven had made it clear that he could kill Flash at any time, legs or not.

He probably stood just as fair a chance either way...

"Off." Kraven jostled Flash, just a little bit, tilting his head back.

"Okay, okay, jeez—"

So much for not getting naked.

Flash pushed his hands away, but twisted so he could get at the zipper on his back and free himself from all the elastic and spandex and cooling systems and so on and so forth. Off with his prosthetic legs and onto his back to pull the black suit down over his hips, and then he was laying there in a bed of soft moss and ghostly flowers with his head at an odd angle against a tree root, exposed and blushing under Kraven's scrutinizing gaze.

"Good..." Kraven ran his hands up Flash's hips—Flash shivered slightly.

Of all the situations to end up in, he never would have expected _this_ —Sergei Kravinoff, world-renowned hunter, staring down at him.

And yet...

Kraven was very much in control, with his fingertips pressed into the soft skin of Flash's thighs.

He didn't do anything though. Just knelt there.

Watching. Waiting, maybe, for Flash to do something.

Flash trailed his hand down his own chest. Further—Kraven reached out, and stopped him. Pushed his hand back up with a slight smirk. Flash frowned a little bit, sliding his hand back down again only for Kraven to push it away again.

"Not yet." Kraven drew his fingertip slowly down Flash's side. Flash shivered, the way it tickled against his ribs.

Back up, gentle.

Flash lay still with his arms over his head, curious what Kraven intended to do.

The answer being... to touch, but only for a moment.

To tease.

And then just let go, hands away, grinning wickedly as Flash got more and more flustered and breathless. Building up a little more with each brush of his fingers or slide of his palm, Flash arching his back—and then he left him hanging again and Flash bit back a disappointed groan.

But he kept his hands over his head, and let Kraven play with him.

Breathing hard, fingers splayed against the tree trunk in easy reach, the barkless surface smooth and cool against his palm. Soft alien moss against his bare skin.

Again, building him up just shy of release.

Hazily, Flash wondered if Kraven wanted him to beg. He may have been submissive, but he wasn't _that_ submissive. Stubbornness would leave him unfulfilled and alone before he reached that point of desperation. And he could always finish himself off later if that happened.

Buildup was the fun part, anyway.

Around the fifth or so wind-up, Kraven midjudged how close Flash was, and finally, though he pulled his hand away at the last moment, Flash reached a muddled kind of climax—he moaned slightly, eyes half shut... but quiet, subdued.

He relaxed with a sigh, despite the wetness on his stomach, and Kraven seemed very satisfied with himself.

Even so, almost immediately, Kraven was on his feet, pulling his dance belt back on, and his velvet tights as well. Flash sat up, as Kraven fastened his ivory-spiked belt around his waist. He retrieved his spear and for a second stood looking down at Flash—Flash, nude and flushed, cleaning himself off.

For a moment, it seemed almost like Kraven would follow through on earlier threats, the way he ran his thumb along the blade of his spearhead. Contemplative... dangerous.

But he simply said, "The next time we meet I will not be so merciful."

Then off, grabbing his shoes, into the twisting trees and shadows.

And dark were those shadows, the last dying light of the evening filtering through from above and leaving much of the cave in deep purple-blacks. Distant, soft creaking sounds, and a few pinpricks of blue-green glowing at the bases of some trees. Some kind of tiny, bioluminescent fungus, when Flash got a good look after grappling with his suit.

Once fully dressed again, armored and harnessed, respirator mask secure on his face, Flash tracked down his cane in the darkness and then left.

A sluggish river fed the lake, and from the river's source, a path ran uphill, pitch black except for the narrow beam of Flash's light. A quiet breeze... flickers of sunset... Then the surface, deepening into dusk with a purplish-gray sky. Flash looked up behind him, at the low hills that formed the caves before joining a mountainside. A shallow system, compared to some, but beautiful nonetheless...

The ground was more stable here.

Flash pulled the mask from his face, replacing it with his helmet. He activated the seals and took a deep breath.

Immediately, over his headset—" _Are you okay? The symbiote is worried._ "

He laughed, quietly. "Yeah. I'm okay." A pause, looking up at the sky. "I found Kraven but, uh... he got away."

He'd have a lot to think about, when he made it back to the ship. Quite the story to tell, in his own guarded thoughts, for himself and inevitably the symbiote to access, and no one else. The others, he could tell a simpler version. Sanitized.

803 piped in. " _Angling for landing, sir. See you in 10 minutes._ "

Flash gave the mountain one last look, hand resting lightly on the handle of his cane.

"Yeah, I'll see you guys soon."

The stars came out one by one as Flash set off toward their rendezvous point.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> flash, walking on an alien planet to go meet his spaceship: damn I just sucked a dude's dick and it wasn't even spider-man. hope he didn't have syphilis. 
> 
> why is kraven on this planet? idk. he was in the savage lands the last time they fought so like, why not! and he's perfectly fine surviving on a slightly off planet. maybe he's illegally poaching aliens. this is just a fic where I went "hey what if they fucked" and it ended up taking me way longer to write than I expected and half of it was spelunking. some kind of like.... early space knight time...probably this doesn't fit into the timeline at all tbh. heck maybe it's an au based loosely on the concept of space knight where flash is doing all that cosmos shit but it's not actually in the comics timeline at all.
> 
>  
> 
> Some visual inspiration for the cave includes Hang Sơn Đoòng in Vietnam—the world's largest cave! It has a jungle growing in it! Also the Devil's Bath, a sulfuric lake in Waiotapu, New Zealand, and Kawah Ijen, a volcano in Indonesia known for large quantities of sulfur and the resulting blue fire (and lava). I didn't mention any blue lava in the fic itself but that's probably what that mountain spews. The world is full of some tight-ass shit. 
> 
>  
> 
> also flash's prosthetic legs aren't those ugly shit legs 803 made, they're real prosthetic legs with microprocessor knees and a special durable shell cause it's not THAT unreasonable for him to get legs that actually make any kind of sense.


	2. Spacesuit talk/Deleted scenes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I had a long author's note about Flash's spacesuit(s) I wanted to include, and also some deleted scenes i figured I'd toss in for fun...  
> I rewrote a lot of scenes in this fic, which is why I have them. Normally I don't change quite so many things in such a short story.

SPACESUIT:

* * *

 

My idea for the spacesuit design is essentially that Flash is wearing a fairly skintight SAS/mechanical counterpressure suit (which is a real thing that exists) to exert mechanical pressure on his body, and has a special neck seal and such so that he can attach his helmet to that and have a pressurized environment for his head. (irl suits like this also have air-pressurized gloves and shoes) Most if not all of the main life support stuff would attach to this lightweight, flexible suit. zipper up the back probably? like wetsuits.

And then over that he's got a bulkier protective suit more akin, visually, to like... the ACES pumpkin suits or military body armor, or even like, the ground suits in the Martian and Interstellar, but unpressurized. That's got built in body armor as well as pockets and loops and shit, to protect the wearer and the pressure suit... and he straps his harness onto it which has other loops, which can be useful for tethers and stuff, and has a belt with pouches for stuff he might need at hand... Especially since he doesn't have full length pants on his suit so there are no ankle pockets or anything. Partly cause I like it when his prosthetic legs are clearly visible and partly because it seems like it would be more convenient this way.

Probably there's a heads-up display in the helmet for important readouts (I'm pretty sure the in-development Z-series EVA suits have HUDs which is like, ?! sci-fi irl!!!!) , and the pressure suit itself most likely has built-in thermal control stuff for cooling and insulation... and presumably the life support system goes on the pressure suit since that's what attaches to the helmet... I am actually not sure how life support works on the IRL biosuits in development? I know it HAS a life support system but I sure can't find pictures or where it is.

Overall not NEARLY as bulky as the big white EMU spacesuits used for EVA but still a bit less flexible and maneuverable in comparison to a biosuit alone...

I'm not sure how big I want the helmet. Probably closer to the size and silhouette of Dava Newman's green helmet than, say, the almost Destiny-esque helmets of SpaceX's Mars design-in-progress. Honestly I prefer her biosuit designs over SpaceX's... both are good aesthetically but there is something about the flowing lines and color of the biosuit that I find really appealing, skintight silhouette aside.

As an aside, I've been thinking about how the counterpressure suit would work with his legs... I suppose he must have special reinforced prosthetic legs intended specifically as non-Venom backup, with sockets designed to function with his suit, rather than for general use. It's sci-fi, I'm sure there's some bullshit explanation. Anything is better than what the artist of Space Knight did lmfao I'm sorry Ariel Olivetti, your painting are pretty but those prosthetic legs look like shit. Anywho, the outer suit definitely has specially tailored legs to zip or velcro over his sockets and stay secure.

not sure about color... I mean, the pressure suit is a nice sleek (sexy?) black. _That_ I know. maybe blue or green anodized metal for any metal fittings that might exist (I guess depending on how the helmet seals to the suit, which is something I also have not had a lot of luck finding out for irl biosuits) I do love to put Flash in green and teal, personally... a green visor on the helmet might be a nice choice, with the body armor itself being similar to the navy and white clothes he wears in Space Knight, with the insignia on his arm and reflective strips and stuff for visibility. Could also be mostly white with some touches of black or navy and touches of a brighter teal.

As far as underwear... that is also pretty unclear to me. The usual is like, adult diapers and liquid cooling garments and stuff, but wearing any kind of incontinence gear under a skintight suit sounds really uncomfortable even if you don't end up actually needing  it. Obvs in this case I mentioned the liquid cooling and ventilation stuff is probably built into the pressure suit so that's not so much of an issue... in GotG when the skrulls capture him he's stripped down to some kind of boxer-brief unitard but??

oh also the respirator I have in mind for flash is just like, one of those fairly slim 3M half-mask air-purifying respirators with replaceable filtration cartridges lol (not powered air or provided air) If he was in an environment where he needs to be wearing a full face shield he should probably be wearing a helmet anyway, so, smaller more portable mask.

oh also he's definitely wearing shoes with his legs... probably some kind of lightweight hiking or running shoe or something for better support/shock absorbency and so on. the usual.

kraven doesn't have a spacesuit or any protective gear cause he's kraven, and he's immortal and shit. and since this place is survivable even for normal humans (at least for limited times) he's like, fine.

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DELETED SCENES:

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1: I really like the way this scene opens up and describes kraven but it just wasn't working for what i wanted unfortunately... 

set the canister containing the symbiote aside and turned his back to the entrance—lay down, so he could roll onto his stomach and army-crawl over to the crevice in the wall, to peer out into the dim main chamber. This close to the ground, the smell of sulfur felt thicker, more cloying. But he didn't want to stand, in case it drew Kraven's attention. The black of his counterpressure suit blended in fairly well with parts of the dark stone surrounding him but movement through motes of light...

He wondered if Kraven could actually smell him, through the stench.

Flash couldn't see him.

"I can hear your heart beating..."

Okay, that had to be a lie.

Right?

Other than Kraven's voice, Flash couldn't make out much to even place his location. The way the sound moved, it got closer, then more distant. The acoustics of this place made his skin crawl, just a little wrong. Echoes of echoes, breath in his ear...

Flash pushed himself away from the crack in the wall with a shudder up his sides.

The quality of the air suddenly felt more still, more silent.

He resisted the urge to swear, covering his mouth and nose with one gloved hand, pressing his forehead against the cool, dry-slick ground.

"I found you."

Full of delight, like a morbid game of hide-and-seek.

Flash felt nauseous, light-headed—Stupid.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. He rolled onto his  back and sat up, reaching for his helmet and his armored suit. Just because the atmosphere here was mostly breathable didn't mean he needed to be sitting, stewing in it. He fumbled slightly, with his helmet. Pushed himself to his feet so he could get the suit on properly, zipping up around the sockets of his prosthetic legs.

His ears popped as the helmet re-pressurized—less painful this time, a gradual shift in atmosphere as his spacesuit adjusted, warmed him slightly. He took a deep breath.

The readout on his helmet flipped through a few statuses, and settled, as a shadow moved across the entrance to his secluded little chamber.

The mic picked up Kraven's voice, slightly distorted and a little unclear, as he murmured, "Aren't you tricky..." Flash could see him, peering through the space in the wall. "Trapping yourself so I am unable to reach you."

He was too big to fit.

Thank God.

"I can survive in here—" Flash took a moment, eyes half-trained on Kraven's partially obscured form, and steadied himself to reach for his harness. He strapped it on where it was supposed to be. "I've got rations, and oxygen, and a flashlight. What've you got? A loincloth?"

No, that was the last time.

He had those awful leopard-spotted velvet tights on, this time. Dressed like a balletic interpretation of a strange hunter, animal patterns clinging tightly to his muscles, and brown shoes laced around his ankles.

Kraven laughed, and though it came through crackly and harsh on Flash's headset, he could have sworn he felt it rumble. Maybe another trick of the caves' acoustics, some sort of Negative, alien physics. Antimatter sound waves.

"I underestimated you, last we fought!"

Flash strapped the symbiote's carrying-canister onto his harness, back against the far wall.

The tip of a spear poked through the crack—thrust forward. Just a few inches shy of Flash's chest.

Flash moved to the side, heart beating fast. He hugged the wall, and pressed right up against the obsidian directly beside the open crack. Closer to Kravinoff himself, but perhaps safer.

Kraven clicked his tongue, or something... A sound difficult to make out, as he withdrew his spear. "You're cleverer than you look, aren't you, my little venomous spider?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm _very_ smart." Buying time with bluster. Flash felt for the knife he knew he'd holstered somewhere along the waist belt of his harness. "I went to an Ivy League and everything."

Sure, he didn't graduate... but Kraven didn't need to know that.

"Oh, goodness. Such an _accomplishment_."

Dripping with sarcasm.

Flash found his knife.

He took a breath, still a little dizzy but steeling himself.

Just him and his can of currently helpless goo up against a superhuman super-hunter...

No big deal.

"Yeah, my ma was real proud of me—" Flash lunged around the corner, knife in-hand.

But before he could even try to stab him, Kraven had grabbed his wrist in one large hand.

Right.

Emphasis on the _superhuman_.

"Ah—"

Kraven's fingers tightened around Flash's wrist, until Flash released his knife with a soft " _fuck_ ," and a gasp of pain.

It clattered to the floor. Kraven reached for it with his foot, pointed almost like a dancer's, and slid the knife toward himself.

"This was an inevitability." Kraven twisted Flash's arm toward him, and Flash grit his teeth against it with a hiss. "I am the wolf. The lion."

Further twisting—painful, more painful, as Flash braced himself against the obsidian wall with his other hand.

"You are prey."

Kraven pulled, and Flash bit back a sharp cry as his shoulder dislocated.

Flash couldn't give him the satisfaction or encouragement of distress but even that moment of brief weakness granted Kraven enough leeway to pull Flash further into the space between chambers, sending screaming pings of pain up and down his arm and shoulder. Flash whimpered, and tried to resist, but the microprocessors in his knees could only do so much, and Sergei Kravinoff had more strength than any human man Flash had gone up against.

His feet slid against the glassy ground, and either Kraven was going to pull him out arm-first, or he was going to wedge him so tight he'd die there.

"You are stubborn." Kraven continued to pull, tugging Flash across a snag in the rock and then—Flash stumbled out with a grunt, falling to the ground as his microprocessor knees buckled.

He rolled onto his back with a groan, shifting the canister out from under him and reaching across his chest to feel his dislocated shoulder.

Already, Kraven had retrieved his spear, and stood over Flash with a dark expression.

Flash lay still, breathing shallowly. Let his good hand fall to the side.

Deep satisfaction, as

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2:

"Reunion, huh?" Flash's voice sounded muffled and unclear through his respirator, but not inaudible. "So I take it that's not a knife in your pants."

Kraven chuckled, and ran a thumb across Flash's gloved palm. "I alone hold your life in my hands, in this moment..." He drew back, arm's-length. He spun Flash, pulling his wrists behind his back to bind them. "Isn't that thrilling?"

Flash huffed. "That's _one_ word for it."

"The power of life and death..." Kraven ran his hands up Flash's arms, now secured, and settled on Flash's shoulders. Large, calloused, and warm even through Flash's insulated skinsuit. He leaned close. "There is no greater pleasure..."

Flash shivered slightly, at Kraven's breath whispering against his ear.

But then Kraven stood away from him, and when Flash looked he had his hands on his hips. Unprotected, chest bare, in that tooled leather and lion's mane vest of his, those velvet tights with leopard rosettes. Those brown leather dancer's shows laced around his ankles. The balletic interpretation of a strange hunter, animal patterns clinging tightly to his muscles.

"Come."

Kraven gestured to the trees, one hand outstretched. He made contact again, drawing Flash toward him. Steered him through the undergrowth, beneath a canopy of cascading red fronds, into a large clearing which looked to be some kind of makeshift camp. Recent, with a fire smoldering in a pit, its embers occasionally spitting blue.

"You've been camping?"

Kraven didn't deign to answer, and instead shoved Flash forward—Flash fell with a grunt, met with a faceful of parasitic white flowers.

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3:

"It would be a shame to kill you and deprive myself of such satisfying quarry." Kraven drew his spear back, standing it upright against the ground, straight-backed and almost contemplative. He crouched, setting his spear aside, moving to straddle Flash. "And yet... without the thrill of blood..."

Kraven reached behind himself and unsheathed a dagger, a work of art in its own right and no doubt sharper than the knife Flash had dropped.

"Without the piercing of flesh..."

"I don't..."

Kraven pried the clasps open on Flash's utility harness and belts, dagger grasped firmly in his hand, movements slow and deliberate.

"I don't really _want_ my flesh to be pierced, if it's all the same to you." Flash shifted beneath him, distracted by the situation as a whole—the pain in his shoulder didn't help.

The blade of Kraven's dagger glinted as he pulled at the zipper of Flash's outer suit to reveal the black spandex blend underneath, and he smirked. "No...?" He flipped up the seals on Flash's helmet. "How disappointing."

"Yeah, I'm pretty disappointing. Probably taste bad, too."

"Taste?" Kraven laughed, as he pulled Flash's helmet off. "Unlike you, I am no lowly cannibal!" He set the helmet aside and took Flash's face by the chin, fingers hot and calloused. "No, I simply delight in the hunt itself. Knowing that I can dominate any living creature. The euphoria of knowing that I and I alone hold the power of life and death—" He pressed the cold flat of his dagger against Flash's cheek, voice darkening.  "There is no greater pleasure..."

Flash let out a wavering breath, letting his eyes half-close, unfocus staring at the cave ceiling as he muttered, "No kidding."

Mentally preparing himself for the inevitable, as Kraven pushed his chin up with his dagger.

But Kraven shifted away, and the blade left Flash's skin unblemished.

Flash lifted his head, eyes pulling into focus on Kraven atop him. Dagger, sheathed. Fists planted on his thighs, a very particular masculinity as he stared Flash down. Still very visibly aroused.

"Shouldn't you be wearing a dance belt or something?" Flash squirmed beneath Kraven.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can tell there's a lot of stuff i repurposed thru my various attempts at their interactions, reused dialogue and stuff. 
> 
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> 
> also like as an aside ugh this fic took way too long. the sex stuff took at least as long as all the rest cause it is just much less interesting for me to write but i still wanted it to be there and it was kind of the point but man writing about caves is way more fun than writing about dicks or whatever.


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